Charlie Parker News

Parker Arts is pleased to announce the 2017/2018 Season, which features the most exciting roster of shows yet. They invite patrons to enjoy musicals like the rowdy Full Monty and the classic South Pacific, and experience heart-pounding concerts from 10,000 Maniacs, Scotty McCreery, Wilson Phillips, and Christopher Cross.

September marks the launch of O17, the inaugural edition of Opera Philadelphia's game-changing new annual season-opening festival, and We Shall Not Be Moved (Sep 16-24) is one of three world premieres with which the company looks forward to baptizing the festival by fire.

The sixth annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival (November 4-12) is packed with performances by today's most listened-to luminaries on the jazz scene.

BMI's 29th Annual Summer Showcase Concert featured the best new big band and jazz orchestra compositions created during The BMI Jazz Composers Workshop over the past year and concluded with the presentation of the Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize.

On four weekends in June, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents the fifth edition of Jazz on Film. Organized by returning guest curator Peter Lucas, this year's Jazz on Film series includes eight films highlighting jazz soundtracks and legendary musicians.

The BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, a prestigious creative forum for musical exploration and development, will present the best new big band and jazz orchestra compositions created during the past year at the 29th Annual Summer Showcase Concert. The BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra, a 17-piece modern repertory ensemble made up of leading New York musicians, will be featured at this FREE event held at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater (10 West 64th Street) on Tuesday, June 6th at 7:30 PM. Doors will be at 7 PM with seating first come, first serve. 

The Apollo Theater today announced details for its largest fundraising event - the 2017 Apollo Spring Gala, which will take place at the theater on Monday, June 12 at 7pm.

Students from the Jazz Studies Program of Hoff-Barthelson Music School will perform a program of original and jazz standards in Scarsdale's Chase Park, 32 Chase Road, Scarsdale, on Sunday, June 4, 2017, at 5:00 pm. In the event of inclement weather, the performance will be held at the Music School, 25 School Lane, Scarsdale.

Even in the studio, the overall feeling of his band and his music is that life is a gas, a spirit very evident on '92 Years Young: Jammin' at the Gibbs House.'

Over his 50 years as a published and performance poet, John Knoll has performed and read poetry across a great many of the country's bookstores, art galleries, schools, churches, theaters, bars and street corners. Fused with Beat riffs, Charlie Parker-esque wanderings, and hip-hop grooves, John's work is notoriously both welcoming and armed with molten language. His published works include The Magic Vessel, Wrestling the Wheel, Opera of Virus, Elevator Music for the Dead, and most recently, Ghosting America, published by Lithic Press.

The Apollo Theater today announced details of its upcoming 2017-2018 season. Marking the first full season with Executive Producer Kamilah Forbes at the helm of the legendary theater's artistic and community programs, it will encompass commissions, premieres, and collaborations with local, national, and international artists working across a range of disciplines and genres-from dance and theater to jazz, soul, and opera.

Now celebrating its 20th year, Sexmob (Steven Bernstein - slide trumpet, Briggan Krauss - saxophones, Tony Scherr - bass, Kenny Wollesen - drums) continues its irreverent M.O. with characteristic subversive impunity.

Opera Philadelphia continues to combine cutting-edge new commissions with fresh takes on the classics. To conclude a 2016-17 season highlighted by the knockout success of its world premiere production of Breaking the Waves, the company turns to iconic Mozartean comedy, with a new co-production of The Marriage of Figaro (April 28–May 7). With Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris leading five performances at the historic Academy of Music, celebrated young singers Brandon Cedel, John Chest, Layla Claire, Ying Fang, and Cecelia Hall anchor a stellar cast in the new Stephen Lawless staging that has already proven “as beautiful as it is humorous, as sophisticated as it is raunchy” (Kansas City Star).

FOX has picked up SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO as a one-hour weekly series, featuring Emmy Award-winning personality Steve Harvey as host. Set to debut during the 2017-2018 season, SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO is a reimagining of the classic talent showcase series.

Broadway Theatre Project's (BTP), visiting faculty will include international notable artists from all areas of musical theatre and dance.  This summer apprentices will have the opportunity to work with Emmy-award winning dance virtuoso Jason Samuels Smith who will also be performing at this year's SummerStage Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in New York City.

City Parks Foundation has announced the 2017 season of SummerStage, New York City's largest free outdoor performing arts festival, bringing more than 100 performances to Central Park and 15 neighborhood parks throughout the five boroughs.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, under the leadership of Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz Jason Moran, continues to celebrate the legacy of jazz artist Mary Lou Williams with the annual Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, May 4, 2017 at 8 p.m. in the Eisenhower Theater.

Opera Philadelphia announced today that Lawrence Brownlee, whose lead performance in the 2015 world premiere of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD kick started the company's “big commitment to new repertoire” (The Wall Street Journal), has joined the company as an Artistic Advisor.

Opera Philadelphia announced today that Lawrence Brownlee, whose lead performance in the 2015 world premiere of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD kick started the company's "big commitment to new repertoire" (The Wall Street Journal), has joined the company as an Artistic Advisor.

Join us on Friday, March 31 as two legendary National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master pianists, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Barry Harris, perform together in a piano duo of classic jazz standards and original arrangements. Drummer Leroy Williams and bassist Ray Drummond will perform with the pianists.